Israeli soldiers stand next to shells and a mobile artillery unit near the Israeli side of the border with Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights August 26, 2019. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

On September 5, Israeli sources claimed that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had sent a warning letter to Lebanese President Michel Aoun, urging him to dismantle a ‘missile factory’ set up by Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley.

According to reports, Pompeo allegedly warned Lebanon that the Israeli military would strike the supposed factory used to develop and modernize missiles.

The message was allegedly transferred directly to Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who is known for his close ties to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Pompeo allegedly told Bassil that Israel had intelligence information about a second missile production plant set up by Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Lebanon should immediately dismantle the second factory, otherwise Israel will attack and destroy it in the coming days,” he said.

Israel Defense Forces

✔@IDF

Here’s a picture worth a thousand missiles:

We can now reveal that inside this Hezbollah facility is Iranian-supplied machinery used to manufacture precision guided missiles with an accuracy of less than 10 meters.

On September 3rd, the Israel Defense Forces claimed that a facility north of Nabi Chit, Lebanon was used by Hezbollah to produce precision guided missiles.

“This facility is of superior importance to the Hezbollah precision-missile project, which is why Hezbollah, in fear of strikes, evacuated precious and unique equipment from the compound to civilian locations in Beirut,” the military said.

Make no mistake. Israel is run by anti-democratic hardliners. Nuclear armed and dangerous, along with maintaining stockpiles of chemical, biological, and other banned terror weapons, Israel is a Middle East menace.

It’s second only to the regional threat posed by the US presence — the real axis of evil, along with their NATO and despotic Arab state allies.

Hezbollah is part of Lebanon’s government. In May 2018 general elections, its candidates and allies won a 67-seat majority of parliament’s 128 seats – equally divided between Muslims and Christians.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called parliamentary results a “political and moral victory” for the resistance — giving the group and its allies power to veto legislation they consider unacceptable.

Under Lebanon’s confessional system, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the parliament speaker a Shia Muslim.

Hezbollah is falsely designated a terrorist organization by the State Department, at the behest of Israel.

It’s nothing of the sort, maintaining a military wing for self-defense alone — in a part of the world boiling from US/NATO/Israeli aggression.

In a Monday televised address, Nasrallah warned Israel of a strong response if it attacks Lebanese territory aggressively, saying:

If the IDF “attack(s), then all your borders and forces will be at risk.”

Hezbollah is much stronger than during 2006 Israeli aggression on Lebanon, embarrassing IDF ground forces at the time.

Its thousands of missiles and rockets can strike targets anywhere in Israel if the IDF attacks its positions or strikes other Lebanese targets.

In response to Israel’s preemptive attack on Lebanese soil in late August, Nasrallah announced the “start of a new phase, Hezbollah “no longer” observing red lines.

“We have a higher level of deterrence now, and we have changed the rules of engagement,” Nasrallah stressed, adding:

“…Israeli aggression is over…(W)e will no longer tolerate Israeli violation of Lebanon airspace.” He vowed to retaliate against unlawful IDF incursions.

“The Lebanese have the right to defend themselves, and we will defend. There is now a new operational space, and it is Lebanon’s skies. When it comes to dealing with the UAVs, it will happen. I won’t specify when and how, but it will come,” Nasrallah stressed.

With full support and encouragement from both right wings of the US war party, Israel operates with impunity.

The world community never held it accountable for its high crimes against defenseless Palestinians and regional states, nor its repeated breaches of Security Council resolutions and other international laws.

Is another Israeli war on Lebanon coming? On September 17, Israeli Knesset elections will be held.

If Netanyahu’s Likud party and hard right allies fail to gain a coalition majority, maybe things will cool down for a while.

If he’s reelected prime minister again, anything ahead is possible.

At the same time, he faces bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges, an October 2 and 3 pre-indictment hearing scheduled.

The jury is out on whether he’ll be held accountable for the above offenses.

No Israeli politician (or high-ranking IDF official) was ever held accountable for high crimes against Palestinians, supporting terrorism, or terror-bombing other countries – far more serious crimes than civil wrongdoing.

A Final Comment

DEBKAfile (DF) is connected to Israeli military intelligence. On Monday, it published a propaganda report, falsely claiming Iran and Hezbollah “plot(ed) (an) anti-Israel drive at (a) secret Beirut summit” in August.

DF admitted having no knowledge of what may have been discussed by Iranian and Hezbollah officials, if a Beirut summit actually occurred last month.

DF falsely claimed their officials discussed “a counsel of war to set out a joint program of operations against US and Israeli Middle East targets in the coming weeks.”

The Islamic Republic and Hezbollah never preemptively attacked another country — what the US, NATO, and Israel do repeatedly.

Beirut – The Advisor of Political Affairs to the Lebanese President Pierre Raffoul told Al-Ahed News Website that President Michel Aoun’s decision to respond to “Israel” would be carried out despite those disapproving of it. He warned of a strong response to the latest “Israeli” aggression. The position of the president of the republic is clear in this regard.

“There are positions from those who claim to be sovereign and they do not even issue a statement of condemnation against ‘Israel’. On the contrary, they are attacking the sovereign decisions and protection of Lebanon,” Raffoul said. “We are preserving our dignity and our country. Anyone who opposes the decisions of the state that protect Lebanon and defends “Israel” in one form or another must be prosecuted. People who do not adopt a national position do not know the taste of freedom and sovereignty. Unfortunately, they only know how to be subordinate. ”

The president’s advisor for political affairs explains to Al-Ahed that “Israel has reached Dahiyeh [Beirut’s southern suburbs] and the Bekaa and attacked us, and we must preserve the sovereignty of Lebanon. There are some voices that must be tried because we are under ‘Israeli’ aggression and there are those who refuse to defend our homeland. This also happened during the July war when certain figures got involved and wanted the war to continue to eliminate the resistance.”

He stressed that today in Lebanon there is national unity. The three levels of leadership in the state want to defend Lebanon and protect its territory. He pointed out that “the position in the Council of Ministers is aligned with this direction.”

Raffoul praised the position of the Supreme Defense Council regarding the recent “Israeli” aggression against Lebanon, which he described as “a national and honorable position that can be relied on now and in the future to protect Lebanon.”

President Donald Trump, who canceled a missile strike on Iran, after the shoot-down of a U.S. Predator drone, to avoid killing Iranians, may not want a U.S. war with Iran. But the same cannot be said of Bibi Netanyahu.

Saturday, Israel launched a night attack on a village south of Damascus to abort what Israel claims was a plot by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force to fly “killer drones” into Israel, an act of war.

Sunday, two Israeli drones crashed outside the media offices of Hezbollah in Beirut. Israel then attacked a base camp of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in north Lebanon.

Monday, Israel admitted to a strike on Iranian-backed militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq. And Israel does not deny responsibility for last month’s attacks on munitions dumps and bases of pro-Iran militias in Iraq.

Israel has also confirmed that, during Syria’s civil war, it conducted hundreds of strikes against pro-Iranian militias and ammunition depots to prevent the transfer of missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Understandably, Israel’s weekend actions have brought threats of retaliation. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has warned of vengeance for the death of his people in the Syria strike.

Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani reportedly tweeted from Tehran, “These insane operations will be the last struggles of the Zionist regime.” Lebanese President Michel Aoun called the alleged Israeli drone attack on Beirut a “declaration of war.”

Last Friday, in the 71st week of the “Great March of Return” protests on Gaza’s border, 50 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli live fire. In 16 months, 200 have died from gunshots, with thousands wounded.

America’s reaction to Israel’s weekend attacks? Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Netanyahu to assure him of U.S. support of Israel’s actions. Some Iraqi leaders are now calling for the expulsion of Americans.

Why is Netanyahu now admitting to Israel’s role in the strikes in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq? Why has he begun threatening Iran itself and even the Houthi rebels in Yemen?

Because this longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history, having surpassed David Ben-Gurion, is in the battle of his life, with elections just three weeks off. And if Netanyahu falls short — or fails to put together a coalition after winning, as he failed earlier this year — his career would be over, and he could be facing prosecution for corruption.

Netanyahu has a compelling motive for widening the war against Israel’s main enemy, its allies and its proxies and taking credit for military strikes.

But America has a stake in what Israel is doing as well.

We are not simply observers. For if Hezbollah retaliates against Israel or Iranian-backed militias in Syria retaliate against Israel — or against us for enabling Israel — a new war could erupt, and there would be a clamor for deeper American intervention.

Yet, Americans have no desire for a new war, which could cost Trump the presidency, as the war in Iraq cost the Republican Party the Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008.

The United States has taken pains to avoid a military clash with Iran for compelling reasons. With only 5,000 troops left in Iraq, U.S. forces are massively outmanned by an estimated 150,000 fighters of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces, which played a critical role in preventing ISIS from reaching Baghdad during the days of the caliphate.

And, for good reason, the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, with its crew of 5,600, which Trump sent to deter Iran, has yet to enter the Strait of Hormuz or the Persian Gulf but remains in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman, and, at times, some 600 nautical miles away from Iran.

Why is this mighty warship keeping its distance?

We don’t want a confrontation in the Gulf, and, as ex-Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, says:

“Anytime a carrier moves close to shore, and especially into confined waters, the danger to the ship goes up significantly. … It becomes vulnerable to diesel submarines, shore-launched cruise missiles and swarming attacks by small boats armed with missiles.”

Which is a pretty good description of the coastal defenses and naval forces of Iran.

Netanyahu’s widening of Israel’s war with Iran and its proxies into Lebanon and Iraq — and perhaps beyond — and his acknowledgement of that wider war raise questions for both of us.

Israel today has on and near her borders hostile populations in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq. Tens of millions of Muslims see her as an enemy to be expelled from the region.

While there is a cold peace with Egypt and Jordan, the Saudis and Gulf Arabs are temporary allies as long as the foe is Iran.

Is this pervasive enmity sustainable?

As for America, have we ceded to Netanyahu something no nation should ever cede to another, even an ally: the right to take our country into a war of their choosing but not of ours?

“Israeli drone flights were “an open attack on Lebanese sovereignty” and an assault on UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, Hariri said on Sunday, just hours after reports of two Israeli UAV incidents in Beirut.

Hariri called the drone incursion a “threat to regional stability and an attempt to increase tensions.”

He said there’s a heavy presence of planes in the airspace over Beirut and its suburbs, adding he will consult with Lebanese President Michel Aoun on what could be done to repel the “new aggression.””

So, what? Really, we have been ‘here’ before, on so many occasions.

PM Hariri is fuming, but he is one of the closest allies of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in the region. In fact, he is a Saudi citizen. Is he going to do anything, like getting into a war with Israel? Never.

Can he actually do anything? No; nothing, even if he would want to. The truth is that practically, he can do absolutely nothing. Not he, nor Lebanon’s President Aoun, or even the Lebanese armed forces. Lebanon has no means with which to repel any Israeli attack. Absolutely no means! The country’s air force is pathetic, consisting of several flying toys, like modified Cessnas, old helicopters, and several A-29 Super Tucanos. That could hardly frighten some of the mightiest and well-trained squadrons in the world – those of the Jewish state.

The bitter and uncomfortable truth is, also, that Israel can basically do anything it desires, at least in this part of the world.

Just a few days ago, I dared to drive, again, from Beirut all the way down to Naqoura, and then, along the Blue Line (‘protected’ by the United Nations), east to Kfarkela.

Now, the repulsive Israeli wall which is scarring one of the most beautiful landscapes in the Middle East, has almost been completed, all along the border. One year ago, the Lebanese government protested, calling it almost an act of war. The Israelis did not care. As always, they did what they wanted. They came right towards the line, or more precisely, at least on several occasions, they crossed the line; and constructed their concrete monstrosity right in front of the eyes of the Lebanese soldiers and the UN personnel. “So, now, what are you going to do?” they were practically saying, without pronouncing it.

Nobody has done anything in retaliation. Zero! Now UNIFIL Indonesian soldiers are taking selfies right in front of the Blue Line, leaning against their armored vehicles, while Hezbollah flags are waving only few meters away from Israel. All this horror show is just some 10 kilometers from the Israeli occupied Syrian territory of the Golan Heights. You can see the Golan Heights easily from here. A few years ago I was there, in the Golan Heights; I ‘smuggled’ myself there, to write a damming report. I learned then, and I am getting more and more confirmation now: Israelis are really great experts at building the walls that are ruining and fragmenting the entire region!

But then and now, nothing that can stop them!

Whatever Israel bombs it gets away with it, no one dares to intervene.

Today as the Israel drones, full of explosives, flew into Lebanon, UN battle ships were docked in the harbor of Beirut. After an explosion rocked a Shi’a neighborhood, damaging the Hezbollah Media Center (which I visited some two years ago), the ships did not even change their position, let alone depart from the harbor in order to defend Lebanon!

So why are these ships there? No one knows. No one asks, obviously.

Here, it is always like that. I drive to a Hezbollah area. There is a private checkpoint. I photograph it. They stop me. A huge guy with a machinegun blocks my way. I jump out of the car, put my hands together: “Do you want to arrest me?” He gets insecure. I ignore him. I drive away. I am pissed off: why not better fight the Israelis and their constant invasions, with such a physique and weaponry?

A friend of mine, a top UN official from the Gulf who doesn’t want to be identified, just told me bitterly:

“There is no condemnation: there is complete silence from the United Nations and from the West.”

Hariri feels obliged to protest, as his nation was attacked. But is he really outraged? Hardly. He hates Syria, he hates Hezbollah.

Lebanon is only united by a few iconic dishes, culinary delights; not by politics.

Is the country ready to defend itself? Hardly. Those who have money are too busy racing their European cars, without mufflers, on potholed streets, or showing their legs in various five-star malls.

The poor people of Lebanon do not matter; they do not exist. Palestinians matter nothing, living and dying, cramped like sardines in repulsive camps with hardly any rights. This has been going on for long decades.

Many Lebanese Christians actually secretly cheer Israel. Or not so secretly… And they are so enamored with everything Western, that, as they told me on several occasions, they would love to be colonized by France, again.

Lebanon is so fragmented by race, religion, social status, that it cannot stand on its feet. Turkish powerplant platforms are providing energy. Infrastructure has collapsed. Filth is everywhere. Cynical corruption consumes everything. But exhibitionism and showing off never stop. Money is there only for hedonistic clubs and sojourns to Nice. Hezbollah is the only institution which cares about the welfare of all Lebanese people; the only force ready to defend the country against foreign interventions. Israel and the West know it. And they are doing all they can to destroy Hezbollah.

Lebanon has become a laughing stock in the region. Like this, it is very difficult to face one of the mightiest militaries on earth.

***

Just a few hours before Lebanon was hit, Israel admitted that its air force hit the Shi’ite militia and Iranian targets in Syria. It declared that it took out “killer drones” prepped by the Quds Force to carry out attacks in Israeli territory.

Israel justifies everything by its ‘defense’. Any outrageous attack, any bombing, is always ‘preventive’. The world has become used to it, by now. The world is doing nothing to stop it.

People die. Many do; annually. So, ‘the Israeli citizens can be safe’. So the West and its allies can control the region, indefinitely.

On August 25th, Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, described the ongoing situation in the Middle East as ‘very, very dangerous’:

“U.S. tries to revive Daesh in Iraq… U.S. helicopters are rescuing Daesh in Afghanistan… “

He spoke about the attack on Lebanon:

“The drones that entered the suburbs at dawn are military aircraft. The first aircraft was a reconnaissance aircraft flying at low altitude to get an accurate picture of the target. We did not shoot down the plane, but some young men threw stones at it before it fell. What happened last night was a suicide drone attack on a target in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Netanyahu would be mistaken if he thinks that this issue can go unnoticed. Lebanon will face a very dangerous situation if this incident goes unaddressed. The dawn suicide attack is the first act of aggression since 14 August 2006. The Lebanese State’s condemnation of what happened and referral of the matter to the Security Council is good, but these steps do not prevent the course of action to be taken. Since 2000, we have allowed Israeli drones for many reasons but no one moved. Israeli drones entering Lebanon are no longer collecting information, but assassinations. From now on, we will face the Israeli drones when they enter the skies of Lebanon and we will work to bring them down. I tell the Israelis that Netanyahu is running with your blood.”

The West and its allies are escalating tensions all over the Middle East. Some say, “war is possible”. Others say “it is imminent”. But it is not just a possibility. There is a war. Everywhere. In Afghanistan and Syria, in Yemen and Iraq. Wherever you look! Even in Lebanon.